Actually, there are a lot of tracks where bump steer can stick you into a
wall. Turn one at Pacific Raceways springs immediately to mind. It's fairly
tricky to get a stock TR3 steering system to be tight and responsive. The
linkage to the idler arm needs to be just right, if you're going to raise or
lower the system you'll have to do a lot of fiddling. The stock linkage uses
rubber bushings that are inherently sloppy. You can replace them with BFE's
setup, but even that is a bit wobbly.
There is a LOT of bump steer in a stock TR3 steering setup. So much so that
you have to wonder what the heck they were thinking. Kind of like trunnion
bottom suspension mounts--what the heck is THAT for. Why not just a ball
joint.
I don't really mind funky handling in a street car--you can deal with it,
but in a race car I like things to be as good as they can be. Old cars
really don't handle very well. TR3's and 4's are no exception. Racing is
hard enough without adding handicaps.
I'm a lousy guy to talk about rules, I have a TR3 that no sanctioning body
(well, maybe HSR) will put up with. But If I can get away with it, I'll
always have the best front suspension that I can manage to have, and that
pretty much means a rack.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net] On Behalf
Of Fubog1@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:36 AM
To: dtalbott@archrepro.com; fot@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: TR 3 Steering
In a message dated 7/28/2005 12:45:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
dtalbott@archrepro.com writes:
but I'm having a hard time
comprehending how the worm and peg could be quite so bad, especially if it
is maintained. I'll admit that my prior TR3 racing experience is many
years past, but I don't recall a great revelation in steering when I moved
into a TR4. Sure, they are hard steering and awkward around the pits, but
aren't
most race cars, especially with locked diff's? It seems to me that the
steering in almost anything gets pretty light when you're going fast, so
the question becomes are you steering or herding? I'm also a strong
believer that one learns to drive around most of this kind of stuff anyway,
realizing that may not be the fastest approach, but I try to remember that
we are talking vintage here.
I tend to agree with you & I don't think that there's much question of
which
type is better, R&P for sure... but... some organizations still have SOME
rules (I think) so that, along with budget, retaining originality, etc are
good
reasons to leave it as is.
The old stock worm & sector shaft works fine & a vehicle really should be
moving whenever the steering wheel is turned anyway. Unless it's rolling or
up
on stands it puts a severe load on the steering linkage.
The bump steer is often subtle & won't usually get funky until it goes into
transient & usually at the limit (as has been mentioned, why some cars are
so
stiff). I think that unless the setup is real bad, like flopping the tie
rods/ends to get the arms/rack nice & straight duh, most drivers will
accept
that particular trait as part of the cars behavior & adjust driving style,
sway
bars, etc to suit. I believe in optimizing everything possible to begin
with,
including bump steer if possible.
Glen
|